Dear Parents and Carers
Thank you to everyone who came along to our annual International Day yesterday. As always, it was a fantastic celebration of our collective heritage, and as we were very lucky with the weather we could enjoy our outdoor space. This half term the whole school has been learning about community, and International Day is a wonderful opportunity for us to meet together. If you have any other ideas for bringing our community together at school, please do let us know. Maureen also runs a parent/ carer coffee morning every Wednesday morning, that everyone is welcome to attend.
Shakespeare Schools Festival
Van Gogh class are working on a very exciting project this term. They are taking part in the Shakespeare Schools Festival, the UK’s largest Youth Drama Festival. Van Gogh class will perform Richard III at Stratford Circus Theatre on 14th November 2019 at 7:00pm. The children are currently rehearsing and learning their lines, and working very hard on their performance. There will be a parents information meeting on Tuesday 8th October at 9:00am in the top hall to find out more. The meeting will also be an opportunity for parents to purchase tickets for the performance.
Coding Club
Last week, the new coding club members met together for the first time. The excitement was palpable, as students were eager to get started on their first project. Using the Chromebooks, we logged on together and browsed to the Code Club website to learn about something called a micro:bit. The micro:bit is a small computer which can run code. We learnt about the different parts of the micro:bit – processor, accelerometer, bluetooth chip, battery connector, USB port – and then we began to code our own image to run on the LED lights.
Light and Dark
Hepworth class did an exciting experiment to find out if we can see when there is no light. We had various boxes that contained different objects, some shiny, some bright, some dull. We predicted which objects would be the most difficult to see when there was a small amount of light. Our choice of objects were: tin foil, jewellery, black marker, vibrant tennis ball, highlighter pen and whiteboard rubber. We looked through a small hole in the box to see what we could see in different light levels and found out that when there is no light….you can’t see anything!
Children’s Climate Assembly
We were pleased to be asked to attend the recent Children’s Climate Assembly at Chrisp Street market. We met our local councillors there, and spoke about how we thought we should improve our environment locally. We came up with ideas on how we could not waste food and make more green areas to improve our air quality.
KEY DATES
Monday 7th October
Tagore Class to Poplar Fire Station
Tuesday 8th October
Van Gogh Class Shakespeare Schools Festival parent meeting 9am
Friday 18th October
last day of half term
Water versus Air Pressure Experiment
Things you will need:
· A clear drinking cup or glass
· A flat, dry piece of card or a thin plastic container lid
· Water
Have a go at experimenting with air pressure and water. Follow these steps to complete the challenge. Get an empty glass and fill it up with water. It should be more than half way full but not spill out of the cup. Can you turn the glass upside down without spilling any of the water? Ask your children to have a go or think about ways they could do this. Could they use the card? To do this successfully, fill the glass up, then place the dry piece of card or plastic lid on top of the glass. Make sure there are no gaps between the card and the glass. Use your fingers to hold the card down flat on the lid then turn it upside down. Remove your fingers from the card. The water should stay in the glass and the card will look like it is blocking the water from falling. The pressure of the air all around you is pushing on the card, stopping the water from falling out. The pressure of the water pushing down on the card is less than the pressure of the air pushing up on the card. This is why the water doesn’t spill out. Get your children to have a go and send photos of their challenge to the school.
Some questions to ask your child:
Can you predict what will happen?
Why do we need the card? Would a different material work?
Why does the water stay in the glass?
What forces are in action here?
Watch this video for further instructions and a demonstration: Water versus Air Pressure Experiment
Send photos of you and your child enjoying this experiment and their answers to homelearning@lansburylawrence.org